That Ain't it At All
by larryvetter
Summary: Post BDM. The crew of Serenity has to deal with an enemy they thought they would never see again.
1. Chapter 1

_  
Note: This part of the story takes place shortly after "Objects in Space". The rest of the story will be Post- BDM_

Prologue

The heavily armed pirate ship swerved through open space to avoid an asteroid. The ship rocked and buckled with the pressure from such a sudden maneuver.

"Gorramit Holbein!" The captain said. "I thought you said you could fly this thing?"

"If you didn't want me to fly you shouldn't have gotten the pilot killed."

"It wasn't my fault he got killed..."

"Captain Beatty." Someone said, "We've detected something nearby, very small."

"What is it?"

"It looks like a...person."

"Then why do I care?"

"Because hes broadcasting an Alliance distress signal. We rescue him could be a couple hundred in it for us."

The Captain weighed the pros and cons in his mind. "Fine, bring him on."

Slowly the ship moved closer to the man in space.

With a small hiss the airlock door opened. One of the crew who had donned a spacesuit reached out and grasped the mans hand. Pulling him on board he noticed the mans suit, made of dark red material, no average smuggler could afford such a thing.

The two men waited until the door closed again before removing their helmets.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Jaster Mereel." Said the man, pulling out a fake identification card.

"The captain will want to speak with you."

The man nodded and the two of them walked out to the main hall of the ship, where the Captain and a group of pirates were waiting.

"I'm Captain Beatty. Who are you."

"My name is Jaster Mereel." The man said, as he looked around silently learning as much as he could about his surroundings.

"Care to explain what you were doing floating through space?"

"I was stationed on a transport ship as security." The man said. "Our ship was taken by a group of thieves, I was the only one left. They decided to jettison me into space rather than kill me."

"That's quite a story." Beatty said. "So lets say I let you on my ship, give you a lift to the Core whats in store for us?"

"Say $50,000" Said the man. Then he pulled a small wad of bills "10,000, up front. Alliance credits or any other type of currency you like."

Beatty eyed the man suspiciously. "The Alliance must be pretty anxious to get you back if you're willing to off that much of someone else's money."

"What I do for the Alliance is irrelevant. Your choice remains the same." The man tossed the money to Beatty.

"Fine, you can stay on this ship." The Captain said. "We'll head for the Core, drop you off. Someone will show you to your room." The Captain turned to leave, followed by the pilot as one of the guards led the man away.

The ship was quiet as Holbein guided the ship through the darkness of space.

"I have a bad feeling about this Captain."

"What?"

"We don't take on passengers for a reason."

"Not often a passenger comes along that can pay 50,000 for a lift to the Core."

"Maybe..." He was interrupted by the door to the bridge opened.

The stranger walked in.

The Captain walked up to confront him. "What in the hell are you doing here...?"

The man simply reached out.

And snapped his neck like it was a twig, the grabbed his pistol from its holster. "Drop it." He said, aiming at the pilot, who had drawn own weapon.

"What are you doing?"

"What I'm doing doesn't matter" The man said. "It's whats going to happen that matters. You're going to lock the crew in their bunks and then shut the weapon systems of this ship offline and take me to my own ship, shouldn't be to far from here."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the man whos going to blow your brains out if you don't do as I say."

"You're not Alliance..."

"The people I'm hunting are worth more than you could imagine. I was given clearance to use Alliance codes..."

"You're a bounty hunter?"

The man looked at Holbein strangely. "That ain't it at all. I'm a bounty hunter."

"How did you get out here."

"I was outsmarted by a gorram seventeen year old girl." The man said. "Does that seem right to you?"  
_  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_Note: I own none of this, all of these characters were created by Joss Whedon, the wise and powerful. Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed this story, you're awesome. Especially Deus X Machina, wasn't sure if people were going to get that reference XD. Also this chapter starts a few weeks after Serenity. _

_Chapter 1 _

She was lying on what felt like a medical bed unable to move. The light in the room was dimmed yet somehow everything still looked blue in the half light. Almost as blue as their damn hands. One of them was looking at her intensely, the other stood off to the side writing something in a small notebook. Her left arm twitched and she felt pain in her wrist where they had put an IV tube.

The man held up a card and spoke, "What number is this?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

He turned a dial and River screamed out in pain. "You know."

"Seven!"

The man put the card in his coat pocket and turned to his partner. "She's making progress."

"Faster than we anticipated."

While they were speaking River struggled against the restraints on the chair, to her supervise one of them came lose. She looked at her hand, unaware how strong she was.

The two men noticed her hand was free and rushed over. It took one men to hold her down while the other injected something into her IV line. As she drifted into unconsciousness she heard them.

"Stronger too."

"She'll be ready soon."

River awoke screaming. She sat up in the dark, her hands were shaking and she was sweating profusely; she drew her legs closer to her body and started to cry.

"River?" A voice said several minutes later.

She looked up. "Simon?"

He walked over to her and put his arms around her. "It's okay, I'm here. Tell me what happened."

"They...they talked to me. Asked me questions." She cried.

"It's okay, you don't have to worry about them anymore."

"I don't want to answer...don't make me answer..." She said softly.

"Shh...mei mei..." He said. "We're safe here."

River smiled slightly, here she knew that she was safe. Here on Serenity. Slowly River laid back down on the bed.

"Are you going to be okay?"

She nodded.

"Do you want something to help you fall asleep"

"No!"

"Okay, if you need me I'll be around."

"I know you will."

Simon couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. He left his room and went to the dining area to make some tea. After a few minuted he heard someone walk up behind him.

"Evening, Doc."

Simon turned and saw the captain.

"You're up?"

"I'm a lite sleeper." Mal said.

"You want some tea?"

Mal took the cup. "How's River?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Heard some."

"She's having dreams again." Simon said. "Starting to remember what they did to her at that place."

"I thought she was better."

"She's still been through a traumatic experience. And they cut out part of her brain, part of her will never recover fully."

"Doc, I feel for you two, I really do. But, I need to know that she's fit to be piloting my boat."

"Most of the time she's fine. Just keep an eye on her while she's flying.

Mal nodded. "We'll be touching down on Persephone in about two hours. Your sister gonna be alright to take her down?"

Simon nodded. "I think so."

"Good."

Despite its civilized appearance Persephone was damn close to the bottom wrung of society with a seething underground of crime that essentially ran the planet.

But, there was only one person on the planet that Jubal Early cared about.

His name was Badger, he had purchased goods from _Serenity's _crew several times in the past.

Only days earlier _Serenity_ had picked up some stolen merchandise, Badger was the most obvious choice for a buyer.

All Early had to do was wait.

And watch.

Serenity flew through the atmosphere around Persephone.

"Careful..." Mal said.

"You don't trust my piloting?"

"Stop reading my mind."

"Can't help it." River said. "I can do this."

"Of course you can, little albatross. I never doubted you." Mal said, as the ship approached the Eavesdown Docks. "I'm gonna go get Zoe. We'll make the deal with Badger while Kaylee refuels the ship, shouldn't take more than a couple hours."

River nodded as the captain left

"Zoe? You in there?" Mal said, knocking on the door.

"Yeah." She answered. When she came out Mal was a little shocked at her appearance.

"You all right Zoe? You look like hell. Gettin' sick?"

"I'm fine, sir. It's just a stomach bug."

"You sure? Can't have you passing out while were makin' a deal."

"Its nothing." She said.

"Well we get back have the doctor straighten you out."

"Fine." She conceded. "Can we get going now, sir?"

"Absolutely."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Simon and Kaylee were in the dining area.

"So What do you usually do when we touch down in civilization?" Simon asked.

"Usually I fuel the ship but I can get Jayne to do it of you wanted to do somethin'."

"I was going to look around, if you wanted to.."

"Sure!" She said, smiling. "Let me just change out of my mechanic clothes."

Simon smiled as she left.

A few minutes later River walked in.

"Hi." She said.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"I'm going to be going into town with Kaylee, do you want me to get you anything?"

She shook her head.

"I'll be back later." He said, getting up to hug her. "Love you."

"Love you too."

Jayne was on the workbench lifting weights when Kaylee came up to him.

"Hey Jayne..."

"What?"

"Could you do somethin' for me?"

"Why?"

"Cause me and Simon are gonna go out. All you have to do is pay the guy to fuel up _Serenity_."

"Thats all I gotta do?"

"Yeah."

"All right."

"Thanks Jayne!" She said before walking away.

Jayne watched her leave. "You're gonna pay me back right?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Captain Reynolds." Badger said. "I bet you fancy yourself a real hero since that stunt you pulled with that recording. Caught the Alliance in a bit of a lie. I never did know that about the Reavers"

"I've never been a hero."

"Well, you see the trouble is that even since that video got released, most of the border planets lost a lot of respect for the Alliance. Caused a steep rise in smuggling, stealing and the like. Means your cargo probably isn't worth as much as you think."

"How much are you thinkin'?"

"Four hundred for the crates."

"Don't push it Badger. Five hundred."

"I tell you what. Cause I like you, I'll go four-fifty."

Reluctantly Mal agreed. Four fifty would get them off this rock. Let em' keep flyin'. That's all that mattered.

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"I bought you this." Simon said, holding out a box.

Kaylee gasped when she saw the fresh strawberries. "How did you know?"

"A certain Shepherd once told me."

Kaylee ate one of the strawberries, savoring the sweet taste. "Here." She said. "Taste one."

"No you eat them."

Laughing, Kaylee stuffed the strawberry into his mouth.

"Mm, now I see what all the fuss was about."

"So where do you want to go now?"

"I'll tell you where you go next." A voice said.

"Who the rutting hell..."

"Don't turn around." The man said.

Kaylee dropped the box. "You..."

"Yes, me." Early said. "Now keep walking and don't scream or do anything out of the ordinary or I'll shot him. And not to kill."

Silently Early led them away from he main marketplace, Simon and Kaylee had no idea where they were going.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 2  
_

The sun was high on the sky as Mal and Zoe made their way back to the ship. Passing the usual food vendors and street performers he broke the silence.

"I got a bad feeling about this,sir."

" 'Bout what? Deal with Badger was fine."

"About what Badger said. Folks respect for the law is goin down. Street value for most goods is going down."

"Maybe so." Mal replied. "But we's got a reputation as people who'll slays get the job done. They'll always be a job somewhere."

"If you say so."

"Zoe, when have I led you astray."

She looked at him with a look of skepticism. "You really want me to answer that?"

"Well, maybe not." As they walked Serenity came into view.

"Where are we going next?"

"I heard tell of an Alliance convey taking off from Whitefall in a few days. Carrying food to the Core. I bet we could find some needs that food more."

Zoe smiled a little. "Steal from the rich sell to the poor?"

Mal nodded. "Everything'll be shiny." He said as they walked onto the ship.

* * *

Jayne walked back into the main hall after taking a shower. He was surprised to see River at the bench where he was working out. She was adding weights to the bar. "What're you doin'?"

"Working out."

"Well don't hurt yourself."

"You don't think that I can lift more than you?"

"Uh..." Jayne was going to say yes, then he remembered how she handled those Reavers...then he remembered she could read his mind...

River smiled and laid back down on the bench and picked up the bar. Jayne spotted her and counted ten reps before she put the bar back up. "Told you so." She said.

"Yeah well..." He stopped when they both noticed Mal and Zoe walking. "Hey how did the deal with Badger go?"

"Went fine." Mal said. "Then I guess we're done here, River go fire up the ship."

"Actually Cap'n, Kaylee and the Doc haven't come back yet."

"Where are they?"

"They're not here..." River said.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon." Zoe said.

"No, they should be back by now." River said. She was now looking away from them as if she was concentrating on something else.

"Now, River calm down..." Mal began. Then he remembered when she had predicted the Reaver attack.

A look of realization and fear showed on River's face. "He's here." Then she turned and ran up the stairs. "He's here and he's got them." The other three looked at each other in confusion before following her. They followed the sound of her heavy boots and found her in the cockpit, just standing there.

"All right what the rutting hell is goin on here?" Jayne asked.

"Shh!" River snapped.

After a few seconds a blinking light appeared on the dashboard and they heard a beeping noise. Someone was trying to contact them. River stepped forward and opened a channel with the person on the other line.

"How did she know...." Jayne said.

"Shh!" Zoe snapped.

Just then a face appeared on the screens, someone they had never wanted to see again. "Well," Early said. "Long time no see."

"An ta ma de!" Mal said. "How did you...live?"

"I was picked up by a pirate ship. But I didn't call to talk about me. I called to talk to River." He said. "And I think you'll listen." Early stepped to the side allowing them to see Simon and Kaylee, handcuffed to chairs. "Simon...Kaylee." River whispered.

"Son of a bitch!" Mal said. "If you hurt them..."

"That's not up to you. That's up to River."

"What do you want?" River said.

"You're going to surrender myself to me. I'm in Docking Bay 94."

"There's no way she's...."

Early sighed. "If she's not here in one hour something like this might happen." He pulled his gun and shot Simon in the leg, he gasped in pain.

River screamed.

"River..." Simon said. "Don't listen to him..." Early hit Simon across the face with his gun.

"Stop it!"

"You can stop it River. Just be here within the hour. If you're not here then I'll out a bullet in his head. And, you'd rather not hear the vile things I'll do to her." Early said, indicating Kaylee. "I don't want to play games, little girl. Not this time."

Then he was gone.

* * *

Early switched off the transmission and turned back to Kaylee and Simon.

"He'll be alright." Early said. "Just need to take out the bullet." He walked a short distance and opened a storage unit against the wall.

"Why are you doing this?" Kaylee asked in a small voice.

"Why does anyone do anything?" Early said. "Alliance'll pay me 200,000 just for bringin' his sister back to the Core." He pulled out a first aid kit and walked back to Simon.

"Is that all you care 'bout?" Kaylee asked "You must..."

Early reached over and slapped her across the face.

"Don't touch her!"

"Don't ever tell me what I must do." He said. He turned back to Simon. "Now, I may not be a doctor but I've seen a bullet wound or two in my day. Hold still."

Simon winced in pain as Early used a pair of forceps to pull out the bullet. "You're crazy." He said.

"Crazy is a relative term." Early said as he bandaged up the wound.

"She won't come here."

"Oh, I think she will. I think she'll do just about anything to try and save you."

Simon only hoped that he was wrong.

"Now you two just sit tight." Early said. "As long as River shows up soon you'll both be fine. If she doesn't, well you know what would happen."

He stared at Kaylee for a moment before leaving the room.

"Are you all right?" Simon asked.

"Yeah." Kaylee said. "Your leg okay?"

"It hurts now but it should be fine."

"You think the others will come for us?"

"I'm sure they will. We probably just have to wait for them to find where we are."

"That'll be soon right?"

"Yeah." Simon said. "Yeah..."

* * *

The four crew members of Serenity stood in silence.

"What do we do now?" Jayne asked.

"We save 'em." Mal said.

"Question is, how? Second Early sees us he'll kill at least one of them. Probably Kaylee."

"Tama de!" Mal said. "River what do you think we should do?"

"We give him what he wants."

"Now hold on..."

River slowly started to walk out.

"Now wait a minute..."

She didn't stop and Mal put his hands up to stop her. She responded by grabbing his arm ad twisting him to the ground. Mal did not how she could be that strong. River pulled Mal's gun out of it's holster and aimed it at Jayne and Zoe.

"Get out of my way." She said.

"River I know what you're thinking." Zoe said. "He's lying, he second you show up he'll just kill them both."

"No he won't. I know him better then you. He likes to think he follows a code: that he's honorable. He won't kill them."

"You're taking a huge risk...."

"I know."River said as she started to leave the room. "But I have to go..."

Then she left. Zoe knelt beside Mal. "You okay sir?"

"Don't let her just walk out of here..."

Zoe went to follow River but was not able to catch her. From the railing outside the cockpit Zoe saw the ramp outside closing.

River had set a timer on the lock. No one could open it for an hour.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Docking bay 94 was not far from where Serenity had landed. Renting out a personal docking bay probably cost Early a fortune. River slowly walked up to the insectile ship.

As she approached the ramp onto the ship opened. She walked up onto the familiar ship. Inside the lights inside were dimmed and her eyes had to ajust from the bright sunlight outside. River continued forward until she heard a voice.

"You're good right there." He said, pointing his gun at her. River stopped. "Hands up. Walk toward me, slowly."

River did not move. "Where are they?"

Early walked over to her and doubly pinned her hands behind her back. "They're over here." He checked to make sure that she wasn't carrying any weapons then pressed his gun into her back.

Early led her down the hallway. Along the way River glanced into the rooms on the ship, seeing a small armory and what looked like a personal bunk. Early led her down to door that he had to unlocked. Inside River saw Kaylee and Simon still bound to chairs.

"River!" Simon said, as soon as the door opened. "What are you doing? Why did you come here?"

Early went to unlock Kaylee and Simon's handcuffs. "I'm helping you."

Simon stood up abruptly. Early aimed his gun at River. "Whoa, slow down. Get off my ship, both of you."

"I'm not leaving without..."

"Yes you are." Early hit Simon with his pistol, and he fell to the floor, then he spoke to Kaylee. "You're goin to take him and leave my ship. If you don't I'll kill him. Then you."

Kaylee looked at Early, then River and Simon. She tried to speak thug found her voice gone. Kaylee helped Simon to his feet and led him out of the room.

"River..."Simon mumbled. Then they were gone.

"I'm sorry, Simon."  


* * *

"Can't we do any thing but sit on our gorram hands!" Mal said.

"We could short out the power to the door." Zoe said. "But we might short out somethin else as well. Wash would have been able to do it but..." She trailed off.

"I could blow the door open." Jayne interjected.

"Do you have any sense at all?"

"Uh.."

"The door will only be locked for a few more minutes." Zoe said.

"You think they're all right?"

"River can take care of herself." Mal said. "Well, most of the time. They'll be fine."

"You think River'll really hand herself over?"

Mal consider it. "Maybe. That lunatic has her brother and best friend."

"Hold on." Zoe said. "Someone's approaching the ship." They looked on the camera feed from the front of the ship.

"That Kaylee?"

"Yeah that's her alright. Looks like she's carrying the doctor..." Mal spoke into the loudspeaker. "Kaylee what happened?"

"He's got River." Kaylee said sadly. "Simon's out cold."

"Son of whore..." Mal said. "River locked us in here so we wouldn't go after her. We'll be out there in a few minutes."

"If he's got River he'll be out of here faster than we'll be able to get Kaylee on board and take off." Zoe said.

"You remember what kind of ship he has?"

Zoe nodded.

"Keep an eye on all off-planet traffic. See if you can find out what direction he's heading."

"We're gonna follow him?"

"'Course we are I'm not just going to let some bounty hunter walk off with my pilot."

"Yes, sir." 

"Zoe can you open the ramp yet."

She nodded.

"Good let Kaylee and Simon in. You and Jayne keep an out for the bounty hunter's ship."

Mal left the cockpit and walked down the stairs toward the ramp that lead off-ship as it opened.

"Are you okay, Kaylee?" He asked as he stepped forward to help the semi-conscious doctor on board.

"I'm fine." Kaylee said. "Well not fine but bot as bad as Simon or River. We're gonna help River right, Cap'n?"

"Course we are." Mal said, then he spoke to Simon. "Hey, Doc, wake up!"

Simon stirred and looked around. "Where's River?"

"Early's got her." Mal said.

"What?" Then he turned to Kaylee. "Why did you take me out of there?!"

" I...I'm sorry I didn't know what to..."

"Now calm down, Doc. There's nothing else she could have done." Mal said. "We're gonna get her back."

Simon ran a hand through his hair and took a breath. "I'm so sorry Kaylee, I guess I'm not thinking straight."

"Don't worry about it."

Mal looked at both of them. "Shiny." He said. "You best go strap yourselves in. Soon as we see Early's ship we're goin to try and follow him."

"Do you think we'll be able to catch him?"

"We'll at least be able see what direction he's going. Do you know where he might take her?"

"The Academy, on one of the Central Planets."

"Let's hope we catch up to him before that." Mal said. "Last thing we need is to break into an Alliance facility."

Mal left them and went back to pilot the ship."

* * *

"Sit down." Early said

River took a seat in the chair without saying a word.

Early took out a pair of handcuffs. "I think these are ugly." He said. "They're functional, they perform one specific purpose and that one purpose is an evil one. That seem right to you?"

Early snapped the cuffs around her wrists. "Now you sit here like a good girl. I don't think I'll have to explain what would happen if you did anything to upset my plan."

"You're only saying that because you're hopin that I will do soemthing and you'll have an excuse to hurt me."

"That ain't it at all." He said "Why would I want that to happen?"

"I don't why you do the things you do." River replied. "Why don't you tell me.?"

"Tell you what?"

"Why do you like to hurt people?"

"I only hurt people when it's necessary."

"Why was it necessary to kill the neighbors dog?"

"Shut your mouth..."

"Why was it necessary to torture it first?"

Early stuck her across the face. "Don't pretend that you know me." Then he started to leave. "You're lucky you're worth so much tongue Alliance."

"Do you have any idea how crazy you are?"

"That's for me to decide." Early said. "Now you just set here. We'll be back at the Academy in a few days."

For the first time River's face twitched with genuine fear. Early smiled, then left her alone. 


	5. Chapter 5

* Not a chapter*

This is a note to let you know that unfortunetly I won't be able to continue this story for a while because of a family emercency.

I'm very sorry and will try to finish this story eventually.


End file.
